


For My Sake

by melodious_rain



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: Anders Needs a Hug, Drabble, Ficlet, Hawke is a dork, Hurt!Hawke, M/M, Purple Hawke, Sarcastic Hawke, Self-Indulgent, angsty!Anders, drivel, inspired by in-game dialogue, rogue hawke - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-15
Updated: 2015-10-15
Packaged: 2018-04-26 11:51:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5003737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melodious_rain/pseuds/melodious_rain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The work for Spirit Healer Anders never ends when you're being dragged around by a reckless, clumsy, stumbling Champion.</p>
<p>In which Hawke gets hurt in a fight, and Anders has a bit of a freak out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For My Sake

**Author's Note:**

> I just love that when you're in a romance with an NPC, their reaction to Hawke falling in battle changes. It's just ADORBS.
> 
> Inspired heavily by in-game dialogue. 
> 
> Trigger Warnings: Game-typical violence and gore. Mention of blood and injuries. Description of the symptoms of a panic attack. And a dragon.

* * *

 

 

Anders was not a particularly stable man. This was no secret, to himself, or _any_ of his companions. A lot of horrible things had happened to him in the past three years... Maker, his whole life was more or less fucked. Just being born the way he was, he was cursed. The society he lived in hated him beyond reason, and fate itself seemed intent to punish him. He'd been forced to kill a past lover, and nearly killed an innocent girl.

 

The two things preventing him from utterly falling apart were his determination to achieve his goal, and one Garrett Hawke.

 

Hawke was probably the _last_ person Anders had ever expected himself to end up with. Hawke was daring and reckless, had a penchant for taunting and talent in teasing. Anders spent most of his time around Hawke reeling. How could a person as... roguish and wild as Hawke even consider spending time with him?

 

It's entirely likely that Anders was obsessed with his fearless leader. It drove Justice into indignant rants.

 

But _Maker_ was Hawke infuriating.

 

His brilliant battle strategies came down to this: Aveline and Fenris go do their godly warrior things, Anders heals them and casts awesome spell things, while Hawke himself helmed the fight from the shadows. It was exhausting just watching him flit to and fro on the battlefield. He could disappear in the blink of an eye, right after bowling over a huge mob of enemies onto their arses. Hawke tried very hard to control the battlefield with his wit. He tried to be everywhere at once, and he was fiercely protective. If Anders or Merrill found themselves stuck with an enemy out for a taste of mage hiney, Hawke would burst out of nowhere to take the poor fucker down. If Aveline was overwhelmed with foes, Hawke's miasma would set them all spinning, buying Anders time to heal. Anders got the feeling that Isabela was the only one who could keep up with him.

 

It wasn't often that Hawke managed to bite off more than he could chew. Normally it involved dragons, to be honest. Such as the one they were currently facing, for example.

 

Anders had the luxury of being able to watch from a distance. The other three of his party... not so much.

 

"Argh!" groused Aveline. She had just been knocked back with a powerful swoop of the dragon's wings.

 

Hawke himself was also on his ass, cursing foully at a volume loud enough to echo over the sounds of the fight.

 

Anders sent a healing spell Aveline's way before returning his attention to the fight at hand.

 

"Good lord!" hissed Hawke, dashing away from the snapping dragon's jaws. "This thing won't give up, will it?" He experimentally threw a few more of his bombs the dragon's way, with no effect.

 

"It will yield," grunted Fenris, swinging his heavy great sword. "Eventually."

 

"Aw, jeez," Hawke lamented, dodging swipes of claws with light feet. "Aveline? Any chance you can... I dunno, get its attention?" The dragon seemed to have realized which person was doing the most damage to it. Hawke's crafty daggers were the bane of many an enemy, but most usually didn't get wise to it. Too distracted by the glowing guy with the big sword, or the intimidating redhead with the massive shield.

 

Aveline herself was hacking away angrily at the dragon's hide. She was obviously winded. "I'm _trying,_ Hawke!" she growled.

 

"Bollocks," he muttered, before addressing the dragon. "Can we talk about this? No? " The beast snapped at him, and Hawke only barely managed to avoid getting his arm ripped off. He got a nasty cut for his trouble, though. "Gah! You wouldn't consider dying, would you?"

 

"Stop trying to reason with a dragon!" Anders called out in frustration.

 

Anders swore he caught Hawke grinning before doing his trick of disappearing into the shadows. Anders tried to watch out for him carefully while keeping his concentration on his spells.

 

However, the wizened dragon wasn't having any of that. Rearing up, it swooped its wings and knocked everyone back. Everyone fell on their rears, and Hawke was forced out of his shadowy hiding place.

 

Anders scrambled to his hands and knees, looking up in time to witness the dragon pounce on the downed assassin.

 

"No!!" Anders' voice ripped out of his throat. He lunged for his staff, which had fallen away, and the dragon clamped his jaws around Hawke. As his friends looked on in horror, the beast shook Hawke from side to side, blood spilling all over the floor, and threw him to the side.

 

Hawke's body tumbled, limp as a ragdoll, then fell still on the stone.

 

Anders' heart seemed to stop dead.

 

"No! Don't be dead!!" Anders panicked, screaming hoarsely. He sent a healing spell Hawke's way. "Please!" he begged.

 

There was no movement from Hawke.

 

With a mighty roar, both Aveline and Fenris threw themselves in fury upon the dragon. The two of them began to wear away at its vitality in earnest.

 

Anders himself was shaking. He couldn't get enough air. And then came Justice, and the dragon was swiftly killed.

 

"Hawke? Hawke! Please don't be dead," Anders rushed to his love's side, falling to his knees beside his bloodsoaked companion.

 

The cave was suddenly silent with the exception of Anders' pleas.

 

The sight of Hawke covered in blood wasn't an uncommon one... It just normally wasn't so much of his own blood. The metallic stench filled his lungs as he tried to get air when he simply couldn't. Hawke's eyes were closed, and Anders took his handsome face in his hands. He went on stuttering out pleas and prayers, and wondered if what he'd said earlier would come true.

 

He'd told Hawke before that it would kill him if he lost the other, that time they stood by the fireplace and poured their hearts out to each other. Anders felt his heart pounding agonizingly in his chest, and thought for a moment it just might.

 

And then, the body on the floor gave a weak cough.

 

"Urgh! Agh," Hawke groaned in pain. He hacked and spat unattractively as he sat up, wiping blood out of his eyes and away from his mouth. Then suddenly he looked around at his companions hovering over him, each with varied degrees of concern on their faces. "So... we won?" His hazel eyes blinked owlishly.

 

Fenris spoke first, droll voice echoing around the blood soaked cavern. "It seems you have won the day..." He paused and inclined his head as if acknowledging something. "Barely. Well done."

 

"Word of caution," Aveline intoned severely. " _Don't_ do that again."

 

Anders still hadn't said a word. Hawke searched his love's face fretfully, wondering if the mage had managed to get injured while Hawke was knocked out. He reached an admittedly dirty hand towards Anders' face. "Alright, Anders?" he asked worriedly, deciding to clasp the mage's shoulder instead.

 

Anders found himself unable to speak around the lump in his throat. His heart was still slowing to a normal pace after seeming to close to giving out, and the hyperventilating had caught up with him and his head was beginning to spin.

 

"Anders? Anders, love, are you hurt?" Hawke, the idiot, was scanning Anders for injuries. Finding none, he seemed honestly puzzled by Anders' inability to breathe normally. The mage under the previously mentioned befuddled scrutiny would sincerely like to smack that stupid look right off his lover's face.

 

"You..." Anders breathed, reaching up to grasp Hawke's arms. "I... thought you were dead," he mumbled under his breath. Saying it aloud felt like he was inviting fate.

 

Anders was _shaking._ His whole form quaked with terror. Hawke found himself choked with guilt as he tried to think of something to say. "Oh, Anders..." he clasped Anders' face in his hands to force him to focus. "I'm so sorry. I'm fine. I didn't mean to scare you."

 

Anders glassy gaze finally seemed to focus on Hawke's face, and he crumpled. He threw his arms around his lover's body and clung to him in a desperate embrace. He needed to reassure himself that Hawke was _here_ , not some other realm while his body lay lifeless somewhere else.

 

Anders almost didn't hear Hawke's hiss of pain, but he did hear the stream of curses. It took a moment to register, but when it did, the mage shot away from Hawke as if he'd been burned. "You _ARE_ hurt?!" It was barely a question, and far too loud.

 

Aveline and Fenris looked over from their examination of the dragon's corpse.

 

Hawke's teeth were bared in a painful grimace. "No, no, I'm not bleeding anywhere... And nothings broken, I think. It just _hurts._ "

 

Anders was eternally grateful for his medicinal knowledge. "You're likely bleeding internally. Lay down, I can heal you." His hands began to glow in readiness.

 

Hawke's eyes were wide as he searched himself for an injury he couldn't see. "What? Oh, that's can't be too bad; blood is _supposed_ to be on the inside, right?"

 

Anders was silent for a full thirty seconds before he shouted incredulously, "How are you still alive?!"

**Author's Note:**

> Well, that's all folks. 
> 
> Can you tell who's in my preferred party? No?
> 
> Please leave a kudos if you liked; they make my day :)


End file.
